This changed in the 1970s as the popular music industry shifted to the album as its main profit center. Singles became advertisements for an album, the lead single conceptually defined as a foretaste of the album to come. On average a lead single will appear about one month before the album's release date. "Go Your Own Way" from Rumours, "Miss You" from Some Girls, and "The Girl Is Mine" from Thriller all roughly follow this pattern. This has become a common practice through the 21st century for album-oriented recording artists.

Lead singles are often a deciding factor for consumers debating purchase of a still unissued album, and the choosing of which track from an album to be issued as the lead single can be crucial to the album's commercial success. The standard rejoinder for record company executives, when presented with an album of dubious commercial potential, is "I don't hear the single."

In the 2000s (decade), a common trend developed to release a lead single months in advance of the album release date. It has equally become common for a second lead single to be also released before the release of the album. For example, Usher issued the lead single "Love in this Club" four months prior to the May 29, 2008 release of Here I Stand. The second single "Love in This Club, Pt. II" was released one month before the album release date. Another example is Justin Timberlake's 2013 album, The 20/20 Experience, which was released on March 19, 2013. The first single off it is "Suit & Tie", released 2 months before the album hit stores. 1 month prior to the release of the album, another lead single called, "Mirrors", was released. This has precedents in the past, however: "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" by Elton John appeared three months ahead of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Rock bands tend to release a lead single one month prior to the release of an album.

Currently, in the US as well as many other countries, artists will choose songs that are more up-tempo as lead singles. Such songs are often catchier and attract attention toward listeners. However, the subsequent lead single might be slower in tempo in order to demonstrate the range of the album. Female vocalists like Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera often maintain a formula of an up-tempo first lead single with a slow ballad follow-up. For example, two singles were released by Miley Cyrus before her album Bangerz - an up-tempo track called, "We Can't Stop" was released as the first single, and a slow-ballad song, "Wrecking Ball" as the second. This was a successful practice of 1980s heavy metal bands. However, not all artists decide to choose their lead single with the up-tempo criteria. Artists may release a lead single that has a message they want to convey to listeners instead of a song with more commercial potential, such as Fall Out Boy who chose to release "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" over the radio friendly "Thnks fr th Mmrs".[1]

Japanese artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro and B'z may release four to eight singles prior to their albums in order to achieve record-breaking debut-week sales. The lead singles in Japan are very heavily advertised and promoted, in some cases even more than the album itself. With album sales continuously declining in the United States, record labels often release singles prior to the album's release date to online music retailers including iTunes, ranging in price from $0.99 to $1.29. This trend has become increasingly popular in many markets.